Volunteering Benefits

Volunteering is known all around the world as an act of kindness by someone for those who needs help. A substantial number of people volunteer at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and charity events, but these are not the only places where volunteers are needed. People all around the world need help with seemingly insignificant things like moving into a new house or even finding a lost pet. Such activities, although simple, help people in need as well the volunteers assistance. The volunteer then gains a sense of importance along with humility. Volunteering is a great thing for people to participate in and it causes many people to experience benefits in their mental health, in their physical health, and in their social skills.

To begin, volunteering

They lead to a positive change in the volunteers social skills, and the way he or she may handle specific situations. Elias states, “Some of the long-term volunteers reported that engaging in volunteering helped them to become more confident in social situations.” For example, one of the volunteers recalls how he or she was ignorant about engineering and could not talk to others about it. He or she now can talk to people because being a volunteer helped him or her gain the confidence to do so (Elias). In one article, the author states, “Volunteering has been shown to enhance psychological well-being, net of the effect of social psychological resources such as self-esteem, formal social integration and informal social interaction (Musick and Wilson 2003)” (Yunqing). By enhancing social integration and social interaction one’s social skills will improve due to using them more often. The volunteer will become accustomed to the way that people interact with specific obstacles and situations, then he or she will be able to respond in the proper manner. This is important in life because the way someone reacts to a situation determines whether the next thing that happens is good or